pcray1231 wrote:I made a trip to Erie this weekend (Fri and Saturday). Here's my report.

Fri: Went to Elk in the vicinity of Girard. Was parked before first light and went in by flashlight. Water was fairly high, and brownish green. Maybe a foot of visibility. I didn't think it was gonna be that bad, but it was. I fished there till about 11:30 without having so much as a bite. I didn't see anyone else with a single hookup. I covered some water, and talked to several people along the way, and nobody had a single bite.

This really does surprise me. Usually any white streamer trailed with a pink egg of some sort in these conditions are just one fish after the other. Hmmm

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pcray1231 wrote:

So, I called it a loss, went through a BK drive thru for lunch then drove to the east side. Tried 16 mile first. Just a zoo. Didn't even park, I have zero desire to fish like that. So I drove over to 12 mile, where there were only a half dozen vehicles or so. Low and gin clear, not many fish in the stream. There were like 8 guys up under the bridge in the plunge pool, so I didn't dare try to fit in that. The bottom pool was open, with fish, but it was quickly apparant why. Awfully skittish, no current, and as soon as a fly hit the water they b-lined directly away from it. There were like 4 guys on the wall a little ways up playing with a handful of visible fish, didn't push in there either.

But in the 50 yard stretch above the wall and below the bridge, there's some pocket water. Nobody was fishing it. Walked through, and at first saw zero fish. But on REAL close inspection I found a few in there. Amazing how a 2 foot football of a trout can dissappear in 2 ft of gin clear water on top of a slate bottom! Anyway, I'd find 1 fish, catch him, then get mobbed by people. lol. "Look guys, there's only 1 fish there, and I just caught him." Then I'd walk up 20 yards and find another, and get mobbed again. I ended up landing 3, lost 2, till I was out of water and fish. So I called it a day and went home.

I like that stretch on 12. It fishes well when everything else is blown. We hit a couple there last Sunday in the brown & leaf hatch.

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pcray1231 wrote:Saturday: Met FarmerDave farther up on Elk. Again, started walking before daylight. Lots of guys. But lots of water too. Water condition was perfect green, couldn't ask for better. You couldn't see fish, so it was just fishing good looking water. In the morning, we didn't do very well, and neither did anybody else, leading everyone to question how many fish had made it up that far. But it looks like it was just cold, cause by by late morning there were fish being caught here and there, and I was no exception. We were covering water, fishing a pocket here and a tailout there. I landed 4 (counting a long line release as I was beaching one, but I had touched it so I'm calling it a catch), lost 2, and missed 2.

Great! Did Dave's neighbor/friend catch a fish?

I didn't leave the couch all day Saturday. I wanted to bring my daughter up, but I knew she would be miserable in the wind and cold.

Dave's neighbor/friend didn't make it. Dave took the skunk as well. But in his defense, when he was fishing hard, nobody caught fish. By the time the fishing picked up a little, Dave was wet and achy and was pushing hard towards the car. Neoprene's and a couple of lbs of sweat left him wet and dehydrated. We fished the way out, me more than him, and I was willing to cross and do more to get the right angles, which is how I picked up what I did. Think the polarized glasses helped a lot too, I couldn't see fish, but I could see bottom and fished the darker lines where I thought they'd be laying. They weren't aggressive, you had to stick it on their nose I think.

It might have been that on Friday, things would have picked up a little later in the day if I had stuck to Elk for the afternoon. Thursday night was full of rain/sleet/snow, and places upstream in the watershed had several inches on the ground, which proceeded to melt quickly with the warm ground. It may have been more about water temperature, rather than clarity. As I said, the clarity wasn't perfect on Friday, but I didn't think it was all that bad either.

Friday night was the same story, to a lesser degree. And again, I think it was after 10:30 till I saw the first fish caught on Saturday, and water conditions were absolutely PERFECT. But from then till 12:30 or so when we quit, it was quite clearly fishing decent. I was hooking up as were plenty of other people. Not "fast", but not slow either, and it was getting better by the minute. I'm concluding water temperature had more to do with the slow mornings than water color.

If you had any other "scouts" out, I wouldn't at all be shocked to hear that guys picked up a few fish on Elk Friday afternoon, and maybe did really well Saturday afternoon.

I wouldn't doubt the afternoon was very good. But FD had some wader issues, and I could stay in domestic good graces by leaving early and getting to the in-laws at a decent time anyway. So we quit at 12:30 or so, went to the Avonia tavern for food and drink, and then called it a day.

I bought new waders at Folly's so after lunch I did go back out and did some casting in the surf at the mouth of Trout Run with large streamers. Lot of people watching, but nobody else fishing. No idea why. Caught 5 missed a few.

PS and OT. PatrickC, I owe you a huge thank you. A few years back you helped me with a chronic ankle problem. I had seen a doctor who prescribed me foot inserts (arch support), but it made things worse. After some questioning, you told me to try lateral heel wedges. I won't say it's totally gone. But it's a LOT better, like night and day.

pcray1231 wrote:PS and OT. PatrickC, I owe you a huge thank you. A few years back you helped me with a chronic ankle problem. I had seen a doctor who prescribed me foot inserts (arch support), but it made things worse. After some questioning, you told me to try lateral heel wedges. I won't say it's totally gone. But it's a LOT better, like night and day.

Simple mechanics. Some guys are worried about making $350 on a pair of orthotics (whether they help or not)...some guys just want to help. One guy gets rich. One guy guides fishing trips on the side for extra money

Great thread, my Son and I were discussing the same thing on our way to Elk yesterday. The last few years were hit and miss in the tribs because of water but this year is a banner year with 37 caught and released so far. We're getting spoiled this year.

Posted on: 2013/10/29 6:39

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" I chose my cast a march brown, a dun..... and ran to the river chasing hope"....... Wilfrid S. Blunt

pcray1231 wrote:It might have been that on Friday, things would have picked up a little later in the day if I had stuck to Elk for the afternoon. Thursday night was full of rain/sleet/snow, and places upstream in the watershed had several inches on the ground, which proceeded to melt quickly with the warm ground. It may have been more about water temperature, rather than clarity. As I said, the clarity wasn't perfect on Friday, but I didn't think it was all that bad either.

This is probably what was going on. Had a similar experience about four years ago. Drove up in snow; 3-4 inches on the ground that melted off the next day. I think the jolt of cold water slowed down the bite. We ended up picking up a handful of fish mid-afternoon in some sun drenched holes. I hope I don't mirror your experience tomorrow and Thursday..